REVISEDce8P PBK Logan Pryce Makes a Mess to ce.indd 6...

REVISEDce8P_PBK Logan Pryce Makes a Mess_to ce.indd 6 2/19/15 8:44 PM

THE FIX-IT SHOP

Logan Pryce picked up a hammer

and pounded the tin cup.

“The Fox-Away is going to be

my best invention ever,” he told

Skeeter. Skeeter barked and wagged

his honey-colored tail. He always

agreed with everything Logan said.

Logan leaned closer to the oil

lamp and continued hammering.

CHAPTER 1CHAPTER 1

Nearby, the horses munched on

their oats and paid no attention.

The cows did the same with their

hay. The farm animals were well

used to Logan and his Fix-It Shop.

The Fix-It Shop was where Logan

mended broken things. Sometimes,

he even recycled them into new

things, like the Fox-Away.

The Fix-It Shop took up an entire

stall in the corner of the barn.

Logan’s worktable was a wooden

board standing

on two steady

sawhorses. His

chair was a blue

wooden barrel with

the words dickinson’s witch hazel

stamped on it.

Logan had lots of raw materials

to tinker with. China cups without

handles. Mismatched buttons. A

cracked butter churn. A cuckoo

clock that no longer told the time.

The objects spilled out of crates

and scattered across the floor.

He had many tools, too. His

favorite was a silver pocketknife

engraved with a

maple leaf design.

His father had

bought it for

him at Mayberry’s

General Store.

The barn doors

creaked open. A

breeze whooshed

in, smelling of

earth and

early spring. The oil lamp flickered

for a moment and then grew still.

A cat skittered out from behind

one haystack and into another.

“Logan!” His sister Tess stood in

the deep shadow of the doorway.

“Ma says you need to come in for

supper!”

Tess was nine,

a year older than

Logan. She had

hazel eyes and two

long brown braids

that hung down

her shoulders.

“Be there in a minute,” said

Logan as he reached for a messy

ball of twine.

“I think she and Pa want to talk

to us.” Tess sounded worried.

“About what?”

“I don’t know. It sounded really

important, so let’s get going!”

“Okay, okay.”

Logan scooped up

the twine and the tin

cup and stuffed them

into a gunnysack. He

added some other

items and blew out

the lamp.

He wondered why Ma and Pa

wanted to talk to them. Was it about

school? Or their chores? Logan had

knocked over a bucket of fresh

milk this morning. But he’d had a

good excuse. The bucket had been

in the way as he chased a couple

of hens that had escaped from the

henhouse.

Outside, the sky was big and

pink with twilight, and the ground

was soft and wet. Logan’s boots

made squishy noises and splattered

mud as he walked. Tess stepped

more carefully. Skeeter dashed off

to chase a hare into a bush.

“That’s odd. Pa hasn’t plowed

yet,” said Tess as they passed the

fields.

Logan glanced around. Tess was

right. It was March, and the land

should be ready for planting wheat.

Instead, it was dotted with patches

of snow. Crows pecked at mounds

of dirt and weeds.

Is there something wrong with Pa?

Logan wondered.

In the kitchen, Ma stirred a pot

of stew at the cast-iron stove. The

stove did everything from cooking

their food to heating their house.

Pa drew water from the indoor

pump. The pitcher overflowed into

the gray soapstone sink.

“Shoes!” Ma called out as Logan

and Tess came in. She frowned

CHAPTER 2CHAPTER 2

sternly at Logan’s

mud-covered

boots.

Logan unlaced his boots and

pulled them off. Tess did the same.

Drew and Annie were sitting at

the table. Drew, who was eleven,

was adding sums in a notebook.

Annie, who was four, was

building a tower out of pickles.

Logan sat down and pulled

a doll out of his gunnysack. He

brushed hay from its hair and

handed it to Annie.

“I fixed her leg,” he said.

“Thank you, Lolo!”

Annie hugged her

doll, which Ma had

sewn for her out of

fabric scraps. “Are you

hungry, Mrs. Wigglesworth? Would

you like a pickle?”

Pa and Ma sat down too. Pa

poured water into glasses. Ma

ladled stew into bowls and passed

around a plate of warm biscuits.

Skeeter’s eyes were alert for

falling crumbs.

“So! Your mother and I have

some news to share,” Pa announced

to the four children.

Tess kicked Logan’s leg under

the table. Logan

kicked her back.

“What is it,

Pa?” Drew asked,

glancing up from

his sums.

“I’ve decided to get a job,” Pa

explained. Ma squeezed his hand.

Logan was confused. What was

Pa saying? He already had a job. He

was a farmer!

“We can’t make enough money

growing crops,” Pa went on. “Times

are tough. There are lots of families

giving up on their farms. But I’m

hopeful that I can find work in

Sherman. In fact, I have already

posted several letters.”

Drew frowned and returned to

adding numbers.

“Oh, Pa,” said Tess.

Her chin trembled.

Logan took a bite

of stew. It tasted

different for some

reason. He couldn’t

imagine not being farm ers any-

more. The Pryces had farmed this

land since before he, Drew, Tess,

and Annie were born . . . since

before Pa and Ma were

Besides, what could Pa do in

Sherman? It was nothing like

Maple Ridge. It was a big city full

of shops, offices, and factories. Pa

couldn’t till soil or sow seeds there.

Drew pointed to his notebook.

“I just added up the numbers. If

I worked at the paper

mill in Sherman, I

could make five

dollars a week.

That’s two

hundred sixty

dollars a year!”

Pa shook his head. “You will do

no such thing.”

“But, Pa!” Drew protested.

“No arguments,” said Pa. “It’s

important that you stay in school.”

“I could sell my

Fox-Away,” Logan

suggested.

“I bet I could get a dollar for it!”

“What’s a Fox-Away, Lolo?”

asked Annie curiously.

Logan stuck a biscuit into his

mouth as he reached into his

gunnysack. He pulled out the tin

cup. “The Fox-Away is my latest

and greatest invention. I’m almost

finished with it. You hang it on the

door of your henhouse to scare

foxes away,” he said through a

mouthful of biscuit.

“No one’s going to pay a dollar

for your junk,” Drew teased him.

“Logan’s inventions

are not junk!”

Tess burst out.

“I’m sure someone would gladly

pay a dollar for Logan’s Fox-Away,”

said Ma quickly. “Don’t you agree,

Dale?”

“Absolutely, Alice,” replied Pa.

Annie clutched her doll to

her chest. “Do I have to sell Mrs.

Wigglesworth?”

“No! No one is

selling anything,”

declared Pa.

“Thank you all

for offering to

help. But we’re

going to be fine.”

Ma put her arms around Annie

and Tess. “Yes. We’re going to be

just fine,” she said brightly.

Logan took another

bite of stew. He

finally realized

why it tasted

different. There was no meat in it—

only potatoes and carrots.

Logan furrowed his brow in

thought. There had to be a way for

him to make money for his family.

But how?

I want to thank my wonderful editor, Sonali Fry.

I also want to thank the History Center in Tompkins County for their invaluable assistance in my research.

— G. G.

If you purchased this book without a cover, you should be aware that this book is stolen property. It was reported as “unsold and destroyed” to the publisher, and neither the author nor the publisher has received any payment for this “stripped book.”

This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

LITTLE SIMONAn imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, New York 10020This Little Simon edition April 2015Copyright © 2015 by Simon & Schuster, Inc.All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.LITTLE SIMON is a registered trademark of Simon & Schuster, Inc., and associated colophon is a trademark of Simon & Schuster, Inc.For information about special discounts for bulk purchases, please contact Simon & Schuster Special Sales at 1-866-506-1949 or business@simonandschuster.com.The Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau can bring authors to your live event. For more information or to book an event, contact the Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau at 1-866-248-3049 or visit our website at www.simonspeakers.com.Designed by Chani YammerThe illustrations for this book were rendered in pen and ink.The text of this book was set in Caecilia. Manufactured in the United States of America 0315 OFF10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication DataGilmore, Grace. Logan Pryce makes a mess / by Grace Gilmore ; illustrated by Petra Brown. —First edition. pages cm. — (Tales from Maple Ridge ; 1) Summary: “When his father is hired for a temporary job at the general store, farm boy Logan can’t wait to lend a hand. But his eagerness may cause his dad to lose this job. Can Logan’s mistake be fixed in time?” — Provided by publisher. ISBN 978-1-4814-2624-4 (pbk : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-1-4814-2625-1 (hc : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-1-4814-2626-8 (ebook) [1. Family life—Fiction. 2. Farm life—Fiction.] I. Brown, Petra, illustrator. II. Title. PZ7.G4372Lo 2015 [Fic]—dc23 2014005957

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